1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a drumstick of the type used by drummers, and more particularly to a drummer's drumstick that incorporates an adjustable weight system to enable customization of the balance of a drumstick to suit the needs of the drummer.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A preliminary patentability and novelty search has revealed the existence of the following patents:
______________________________________ 5,044,250 5,218,152 DE 3,902,429 A1 (German) ______________________________________
Referring to the patents listed above, U.S. Pat. No. 5,044,250 discloses merely a cylindrical tubular "stick" open at both ends and containing a quantity of pellets which function as "noise makers" within the tubular "stick". Clearly, there is no disclosure in this patent that anticipates the instant invention, nor does this patent reasonably "teach" the concept of a variable center of gravity as taught by the instant invention.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,218,152 teaches the concept and a specifically different structure for a "balanced" drumstick that is primarily used for juggling in addition to drumming. The method taught by this patent to secure the balance point (BP) is to cut off some of the length of the drumstick from the butt or heavy end of the shaft, and then drill an appropriate bore into the heavy end of the shaft to shift the BP to place it within the range of from 58% to 62% along the shaft from the butt end of the shaft. Clearly, this patent teaches a structure that is significantly different than the structure of the instant invention. Additionally, the structure of this prior art patent, once accomplished, is not modifiable to change the position of the BP. In the structure of the instant invention, it will be apparent that not only may the weight system be modified to change within a given drumstick the center of gravity or "balance point", but the weight system may quickly and easily be removed from one drumstick and transferred to another and different type of drumstick, again to suit the needs of the drummer.
German Patent DE 3902429 A1 appears to provide a cartridge that may be slipped into the butt end of a drumstick. Within the cartridge there is a short center rod having threads along its length along which a weight may be variably positioned. The center rod is threadably engaged at its inner end to the end wall of the cartridge. At its outer end, the threaded rod is provided with a slotted head to enable rotation of the rod to threadably engage the inner end of the rod with the inner end wall of the cartridge. While this structure may provide a limited control over the placement of the balance point, it is clear that once installed, it cannot be removed and transferred to another drumstick, nor is there sufficient similarity between this patented structure and the instant invention to reasonably "teach" the invention disclosed and claimed herein.
Drumsticks have historically been fabricated from wood. However, through the passage of time, it has become difficult to secure wood of the type from which drumsticks are fabricated. Additionally, since each drumstick fabricated from wood is a separate project involving the skill of the woodworker, it has been found that it is very difficult to "match" two wood drumsticks as to balance and weight. One of the reasons for this is that wood varies in its density, even when taken from a single source. As technology has improved, drumsticks fabricated from various synthetic resinous and synthetic-natural composite materials have begun to compete with solid wood drumsticks. It has been found that because synthetic resinous drumsticks can be infection molded, it is much easier to "match" a pair of drumsticks in terms of balance and weight. The ideal is to "match" a pair of drumsticks so that the balance point is exactly in the same position along the length of the drumstick, and that the two drumsticks of a pair be exactly the same weight, the same length and the same configuration from the butt end of the drumstick to its tip end.
Accordingly, one of the important objects of the present invention is the provision of a drumstick fabricated from a synthetic resinous material to exact parameters that may be accurateley replicated in additional drumsticks so as to facilitate "matching" two drumsticks to provide a pair of "matched" drumsticks.
Another object of the invention is the provision of an adjustabie weight system for a drumstick that may be incorporated into a hollow or tube-like drumstick molded from synthetic resinous material to enable customization of the weight and balance of a drumstick to suit the needs of the drummer.
A still further object of the invention is to provide an adjustable weight system for drumsticks that is fabricated from man-made materials to exact parameters so that a selected adjustable weight system may be accurately replicated to provide a "matched" pair of adjustable weight systems for a given pair of drumstick.
Yet another object of the invention is the provision of a drumstick equipped with an adjustable weight system that can be readily removed from one drumstick and inserted into another drumstick while maintaining the same weight adjustment.
A still further object of the invention is the provision of an adjustable weight system for a drumstick that can be readily adjusted to shift the balance point of the drumstick to the location desired by the drumer, all without the need to use tools of any kind.
Another important object of the invention is the provision of a combination of a synthetic resinous material drumstick and an adjustable weight system that complement each other so as to eliminate extraneous sounds emanating from the drumstick per se as distinguished from the drum head struck by the drumstick.
The invention possesses other objects and features of advantage, some of which, with the foregoing will be apparent from the following description and the drawings. It is to be understood however that the invention is not limited to the embodiment illustrated and described since it may be embodied in various forms within the scope of the appended claims.